-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Roger Federer is undoubtedly the greatest men 's tennis players of the modern era -- if not of all time -- following his epic victory over Andy Roddick in Sunday 's Wimbledon final .

Reaching for the stars : Roger Federer ithe best tennis player the world has ever seen .

His star had waned somewhat in the past year , losing his No. 1 world ranking to Rafael Nadal , but his breakthrough victory at the French Open last month saw him match Pete Sampras with 14 titles at major tournaments .

With the injured Nadal absent at SW19 , Federer rolled back time to march relentlessly into the final against Roddick , dropping just one set along the way as he reminded fans of the form that saw him top the rankings for a record 237 weeks .

Then on Sunday , Federer overtook Sampras ' mark with 15 grand slams -- with the American in attendance to view his record finally go .

Federer still has some way to go before beating Sampras ' all-time record of 286 weeks at the summit , but at the age of 27 he has plenty of time to take back his crown from Nadal , especially with the Spaniard 's career seeming in the balance due to his chronic knee problems .

The Swiss is already the ATP Tour 's all-time earner , with more than $ 48 million in prize money . He holds the record for most money earned in one season , $ 10 million in 2007 , and is also second on the list for his $ 8 million the year before .

Sampras , in comparison , is second on the earnings list with $ 43 million up until his retirement in 2002 after a 14-year career .

He won 64 ATP Tour titles , compared to Federer 's 59 , but both are a long way behind the record 109 achieved by Jimmy Connors , with Ivan Lendl next on 94 and John McEnroe third with 77 .

When it comes to Grand Slams , Sampras won 14 finals and lost four . Including Sunday , Federer has reached the most , appearing in 20 .

Lendl , who held the world record for 270 weeks at No. 1 before being usurped by Sampras , appeared in 19 finals but could only win eight .

The great Bjorn Borg , who shares the record for most successive titles at Wimbledon with Federer -- who completed his quintet in 2007 - won 11 of his 16 Grand Slam finals .

None of those illustrious names have been able to surpass the efforts of Australian legend Rod Laver , who is the only men 's player to have won all four Grand Slams twice in the same year .

He did it first as an amateur in 1962 , and then again in the 1969 when he became the first -- and only -- player to achieve the feat in the open era .

Federer became the first player to reach seven consecutive Wimbledon finals with his 50th win at the All England Club in his semi-final victory against Tommy Haas on Friday , but still trails Sampras ' record of seven titles at SW19 .

His bid for a record sixth successive crown was thwarted in an epic final showdown last year with Nadal , who has transformed himself from a clay-court specialist into a fearsome all-round talent .

Federer , by contrast , has taken a long time to adapt to clay . He did not reach the semi-finals at Roland Garros until his seventh appearance in Paris , then was beaten in the final by Nadal for the next three years .

His triumph this year came after the Olympic champion suffered a surprise early exit , although he had earlier ended Nadal 's 33-match winning streak on clay in the Madrid Open final .

The anxiously-anticipated Paris win made him just the sixth player to complete the set of major titles , the third in the modern era and the first since Andre Agassi -- who added the final piece in his jigsaw with victory at the 1999 French Open .

Federer shares the Open-era record for most U.S. Open victories with Sampras and Connors , having clinched his fifth crown in 2008 when he beat young pretender Andy Murray in the final .

He has always been generous in his praise of Sampras , who never won at Roland Garros but triumphed twice at the Australian Open and holds the record for winning eight successive Grand Slam finals . Sampras : Federer is the greatest .

`` I think his success here at Wimbledon is amazing , '' Federer has said of Sampras . `` Winning it three times , coming back , winning it four more times and going for five , it 's quite something .

`` And he finished off with the U.S. Open victory , which was very special against his biggest rival Andre Agassi . I think that 's what I 'll remember most of him .

`` I guess he had the best serve we 've seen in tennis history , even though today we also have some good ones . He was also a smooth mover which he never really got credit for . There 's many things that Pete did incredibly well . ''

Federer 's career has been no less incredible , but he has claimed that he started out with no such lofty ambitions .

`` I 'm very proud of all the records I 've achieved because I never thought I would be that successful as a kid , '' he said .

`` I would have been happy winning a couple of tournaments and maybe collecting Wimbledon . ''

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Roger Federer has reached 20 Grand Slam finals the most by any male player

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The Swiss spent a record 237 consecutive weeks at top of the world rankings

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He shares record of five successive victories at Wimbledon with Bjorn Borg

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He has equal most U.S. Open titles , with Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors